The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain Increases

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Apr 12, 2012, 04:00 ET

NEW YORK, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain increased 0.1 percent in February to 105.5 (2004 = 100), following a 0.5 percent increase in January, and a 0.4 percent increase in December.

At the same time, The Conference Board Coincident Economic Index® (CEI) for Spain, a measure of current economic activity, decreased 0.1 in February to 98.4 (2004 = 100), following a 0.3 percent decrease in January, and a 0.3 percent decrease in December.

The Conference Board LEI for Spain has improved over the past three months, after declining between February and November 2011. Though its six-month growth rate has improved slightly in recent months, it remains negative. Meanwhile, The Conference Board CEI for Spain has been on a downward trend for the past year, and its six-month growth also remains negative. Taken together, although the past three increases in the LEI could represent a stabilization in its downward trend, the recent behavior of the composite indexes suggests that it is too early to tell if the current contraction in economic activity will end in the near term.

About The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® (LEI) for Spain
The composite economic indexes are the key elements in an analytic system designed to signal peaks and troughs in the business cycle. The leading and coincident economic indexes are essentially composite averages of several individual leading or coincident indicators. They are constructed to summarize and reveal common turning point patterns in economic data in a clearer and more convincing manner than any individual component – primarily because they smooth out some of the volatility of individual components.

The six components of The Conference Board Leading Economic Index® for Spain include:

Capital Equipment Component of Industrial Production
Contribution to Euro M2
Stock Price Index
Long term Government Bond Yield
Order Books Survey
Job Placings

For more information including full press release and technical notes:
http://www.conference-board.org/data/bcicountry.cfm?cid=9

For more information about The Conference Board global business cycle indicators:
http://www.conference-board.org/data/bci.cfm

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is an independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org.

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Summary Table of Composite Indexes

	2011	2012		6-month
	Dec	Jan	Feb	Aug to Feb
Leading Economic Index (LEI)	104.9 r	105.4 r	105.5 p
Percent Change	0.4 r	0.5	0.1 p	-0.7 p
Diffusion	58.3	66.7	50.0	33.3

Coincident Economic Index (CEI)	98.8 p	98.5 p	98.4 p
Percent Change	-0.3 p	-0.3 p	-0.1 p	-1.9 p
Diffusion	0.0	20.0	40.0	0.0

n.a. Not available p Preliminary r Revised
Indexes equal 100 in 2004
Source: The Conference Board All Rights Reserved